How does the process work/what are the steps?
It is the commercial lease which will govern the tenant’s obligation to pay the service charges.
Service charges are quite often referred to within leases as being “payable by way of rent”. If this is the case, it may be possible to instruct a bailiff to forfeit the lease, without having to issue court proceedings. It is important that a solicitor checks whether the landlord has the right to take such action prior to instructing a bailiff.
If it is not possible to instruct a bailiff or if the landlord does not wish to proceed in this manner, then it should still be possible to issue court proceedings to seek to obtain a court order in respect of the unpaid service charges. Once a judgment has been obtained, it can be enforced in a variety of different ways.
